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The Most Important Question

Important, Not Important

You already know things are broken. You read the news, you listen to the analysis, you've got the outrage. What you don't have is a plan. The Most Important Question — 6x Webby-nominated, 2x Signal Award-nominated — is a weekly conversation with one person who stopped asking "what can I do?" and went and found out. Not pundits. Not commentators. The scientists, doctors, nurses, journalists, farmers, activists, and policymakers who are doing the actual work on the frontlines of climate, public health, democracy, AI, food, water, medicine, and justice. Host Quinn Emmett goes deep with each of them — the infectious disease doctor building new outbreak surveillance tools, the investigative journalist who traced how forever chemicals got into 97% of our blood, the economist building emergency lifeboats for foreign aid that got axed overnight, one of the greatest writers alive reckoning with the history we were never taught — and every conversation ends with something nobody else gives you: a plan. What you can do. Specifically. This week. However you show up. We don't care if you donate or volunteer or vote or organize or just finally understand what the hell is happening with measles so you can push back at Thanksgiving. We care that you do something. 220+ episodes. 110+ countries. One question: What can I do? New episodes weekly. You're already informed. Let's get to work.

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  • 20 episodes
  • Updated Monday
  • Explicit

Episodes20

Newest first
  • Monday · 27 min

    Run To Defend Democracy

    Today, another in our series of conversations with friends who are part of the pipeline at Run For Something. I'm excited to introduce you to Sophia Gibb. She is a public servant and elite athlete who knows what it means to perform under pressure, which is what our elections are. She is the elections deputy for Chaffee County in Colorado, where she is responsible for running secure, accessible elections, backed by advanced national certifications in election administration. Before that, Sophia led emergency preparedness efforts in public health, so resilience is quite literally part of her job description. And of course, outside government, Sophia is a two-time Paralympic medalist, multi-time world champion, and a former Team USA Paralympic captain who has advocated for equity on the global stage and on Capitol Hill. So whether she is strengthening democracy by example or competing at the highest levels of sport, she brings discipline, leadership, and a deep, deep commitment and kindness, frankly, to community and everything she does here. ----------- Have feedback? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com. Find every action recommended in The Most Important Question here: www.whatcanido.earth ----------- Links: Support Sophia's campaign https://sophiaforchaffee.com/ Find something to run for https://v2.wherecanirun.org/ Follow us: Subscribe to our newsletters at importantnotimportant.com Join us at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade Get our merch! Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant Subscribe to our YouTube channel Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett Produced by Willow Beck Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

  • July 27 · 41 min

    Run To Build The Future You Want

    Today we're gonna talk about Florida and representation, and how Florida has very little of it, in even the loosest definition of the word. We're gonna do that by introducing you to my new friend, May Thach. May is a candidate for state representative in Florida, and boy, is she an awesome human being. Look, you folks across the country, across the world, told us you wanted more very specific, preferably living examples of fight and progress you can see and touch and feel and vote for. And in the second batch of conversations with our best friends at Run For Something, we are giving you more and more of that, and that's really exactly who May is. This is a great conversation. I'm really just such a fan. May, like everybody else in the series, is sourced from the Run For Something pipeline and graduating classes. She and all these other folks are the next generation of leaders, if we will have them, if we will support them, and recruit them and vote for them, and then hold their feet to the fire. ----------- Have feedback? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com. Find every action recommended in The Most Important Question here: www.whatcanido.earth ----------- Links: Check out May's non-profit, engaging and empowering AAPI residents in Florida https://www.flaapp.org/ Check out the work of Floridians For Reproductive Freedom https://floridareprofreedom.org/ Support May's campaign https://www.maythach.com/ Find something to run for https://v2.wherecanirun.org/ Follow us: Subscribe to our newsletters at importantnotimportant.com Join us at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade Get our merch! Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant Subscribe to our YouTube channel Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett Produced by Willow Beck Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

  • July 20 · 28 min

    Run To Unite Your Community

    There are a lot of folks in rural America that can say, "No candidate's ever come and knocked on my door." So today, I'm going to introduce you to the one who knocks, my new best friend, Brittany Newton. You folks around the world have said very clearly that you would like more examples of fight and progress you can actually see, touch, and feel, and talk to, and feel like someone is listening to you. And so in these conversations, in partnership with our best friends at Run For Something, we're giving you the people you asked for. Because that's exactly who Brittany is. She's a vet, she's a mom, a future representative who will actually, and this might shock you, represent her constituents, her neighbors in North Carolina. ----------- Have feedback? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com. Find every action recommended in The Most Important Question here: www.whatcanido.earth ----------- Links: Watch The Deciders documentary https://decidersmovie.com/ Support Brittany's campaign https://www.brittanyfornchouse.com/ Find something to run for https://v2.wherecanirun.org/ Follow us: Subscribe to our newsletters at importantnotimportant.com Join us at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade Get our merch! Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant Subscribe to our YouTube channel Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett Produced by Willow Beck Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

  • July 13 · 14 min

    *Actually* Pro Life: Our Principles

    A huge catalyst for our 2025 pivot towards courting a much wider audience was AOC’s post-mortem of the 2024 election: “We can’t just be right. We have to be effective.” But at the same time, we have to also agree on the fundamentals — human rights — and that we won’t compromise on those. From the very beginning, the founders left the door open for our fundamentals to be — at best! — up for discussion, at worst, blissfully ignored while their very own slave-children tended to their expansive gardens. So while we’re definitely trying to reach way, way more people where they are in their everyday lives, we’re simultaneously making it as clear as humanly possible that these eight basics — the Actually Pro Life Principles — are absolutely non-negotiable. -------------------------- Get more: Take action at www.whatcanido.earth Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade Get our merch https://shop.importantnotimportant.com/ Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant Subscribe to our YouTube channel Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett Produced by Willow Beck Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com Take a nap you deserve it Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

  • June 22 · 33 min

    Run To Flip Your State

    Today we're gonna talk about Texas. For a decade, maybe 100 years, we've heard over and over, this is the year we flip Texas. Sometimes we get closer, sometimes we get much further away. But as much as I'm excited about a candidate like James Talarico, I am always more interested in the people standing up to run in their communities at the state and local level. So today, I'm going to introduce you to Junior Ezeonu. You all ave asked for more examples of people fighting for progress you can actually see and touch and feel. And in this batch of conversations, another one in partnership with our best friends at Run For Something, we're giving you exactly what you asked for. And my friends, that's exactly who Junior is. I can't wait for you to hear more about him. ----------- Have feedback? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com. Find every action recommended in The Most Important Question here: www.whatcanido.earth ----------- Links: Support Junior's campaign https://www.votejuniorezeonu.com/ Find something to run for https://v2.wherecanirun.org/ Follow us: Subscribe to our newsletters at importantnotimportant.com Join us at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade Get our merch! Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant Subscribe to our YouTube channel Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett Produced by Willow Beck Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

  • June 15 · 43 min

    Run for Working People (And Not For Data Centers)

    Today, we're gonna talk about data centers. Now, I know these things are a hot topic amid everything else: the heat, water, prices, lack of homes, lack of childcare, you name it. But we do need to speak out about them. So, who is the most qualified here to speak about them, and when necessary, against these just enormous data centers that are affecting the heat, the water, the prices, the lack of homes, and more? In this second batch of conversations, in partnership with our best friends at Run For Something, we're gonna give you exactly what you asked for. Today, we're gonna talk to an awesome candidate who is running for their town council, who is hellbent on attacking and helping people understand a huge issue in their own hometown. You and I are gonna find out together what they're working on and where they've made progress, where they have struggled in their candidacy, and how their exact tactics and strategies might be transferable to other schools or towns or cities like yours around this fine country. ----------- Have feedback? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com. Find every action recommended in The Most Important Question here: www.whatcanido.earth ----------- Links: Support Jackie's campaign https://www.voteforjackie.com/ Find something to run for https://v2.wherecanirun.org/ Follow us: Subscribe to our newsletters at importantnotimportant.com Join us at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade Get our merch! Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant Subscribe to our YouTube channel Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett Produced by Willow Beck Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

  • June 9 · 1 min

    Introducing: It's Called Reality

    Something new from the team behind The Most Important Question! It's Called Reality is a podcast about reality TV, and the systems hiding inside it. Every episode, hosts Willow Beck and Briana Brown take a show you're already watching and pull the thread on what it's actually revealing about power, media, and the world we live in. If you listen to The Most Important Question, you already think about who controls the narrative, how misinformation spreads, and what it means that the media environment is shifting faster than our ability to read it critically. Reality TV is one of the most watched and least analyzed corners of that environment. Donald Trump is the president in large part because he was a reality TV star first. The Traitors is a closed information system w here the people with access to the truth run a disinformation campaign against everyone else, and the parallels to how misinformation spreads are not subtle. Survivor 50 showed us exactly what happens when a powerful institution performs "giving people control" without actually ceding any. It's Called Reality takes all of that seriously, with the same rigor you'd expect from Important, Not Important, and a lot more yapping about who deserved to win The Traitors. New episodes Fridays. Find It's Called Reality wherever you listen to podcasts. ------------- LINKS Listen to It's Called Reality: itscalledreality.tv Follow us: Instagram @itscalledreality and TikTok @its.called.reality Get in touch: questions@importantnotimportant.com -- send us your hot takes, questions, memes, and shows you want us to cover. We read them all. Take action: whatcanido.earth Support the show: It's Called Reality is produced by Important, Not Important. If you want to go deeper on the issues we cover (and get future ad-free and bonus episodes!) consider becoming an Important Member: importantnotimportant.com/upgrade ------------- It's Called Reality is co-hosted by Willow Beck and Briana Brown, produced by Important, Not Important. New episodes on Fridays. If you love it, leave a rating and review!

  • June 8 · 21 min

    Run for Soil and Water and Farmworkers

    You may feel like you're giving it all you have, but obviously things are tough out there. We're working on all of it, but in particular, you, our listeners have asked for over and over more examples of a fight and actual progress that you can see and touch and feel. And in these, the new second batch of conversations, in partnership with our best friends at Run for Something, we're gonna give you more of exactly what you're asking for. Going forward, not every conversation will be the same. So some, like today, might feature a single guest, a candidate or an alum or an incumbent, I guess, and others might feature two guests. But all of them are sourced from the Run for Something pipeline, so they could be candidates or they could be among the graduating classes. But these are no doubt the next generation leaders of this country For example, today I'm gonna introduce you to an incredible candidate who's running for a local office in their home state that is specifically working on something they were born into and care about deeply, that they represent. We're gonna talk about what they're working on and why, where they've made progress, where they've struggled, and tactics and strategies that might be transferable to other school districts or towns or cities or whatever. ----------- Have feedback? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com. Find every action recommended in The Most Important Question here: www.whatcanido.earth ----------- Links: Support Quinnie's campaign https://quinnieforsoilandwater.com/ Find something to run for https://v2.wherecanirun.org/ Follow us: Subscribe to our newsletters at importantnotimportant.com Join us at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade Get our merch! Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant Subscribe to our YouTube channel Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett Produced by Willow Beck Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

  • June 3 · 1 min

    Bonus: An *Actually* Pro Life T-shirt

    We've spent the last two essays building the case for *Actually* Pro Life: wht it means, where it comes from, and why the logo was designed to be worn, carried, and declared in public. Now we're asking you to do exactly that. We just launched our first ever APL Member Drive. The first 50 people who upgrade to become an Important Member get a free *Actually* Pro Life t-shirt. And one member who joins before June 12th wins a full APL swag bag. A paid membership is what keeps this work honest. No advertisers telling us what to do. Just the work, funded by the people who give a shit about it. If that's you, the link is below. https://www.importantnotimportant.com/upgrade

  • May 18 · 14 min

    *Actually* Pro Life: The Design

    If the name Actually Pro Life is deliberate, then so is the logo. Because like I said in our intro post, we’re reclaiming "pro-life" from the same people who blame kindergartners for getting shot at school, and we’re grounding it in evidence. Evidence like, “Does this action make it measurably less likely or more likely that kindergartners will get shot at school?” Any action can only go one way, and we only go one way, and you can go our way, or 🎵 you can go your own way 🎶, in which case — go fuck yourself. 🫡 Let’s talk pixels and protests. -------------------------- Get more: Take action at www.whatcanido.earth Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade Get our merch https://shop.importantnotimportant.com/ Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant Subscribe to our YouTube channel Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett Produced by Willow Beck Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com Take a nap you deserve it Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

  • May 12 · 13 min

    Introducing: *Actually* Pro Life

    250 years after a group of slaveowners wrote that "all men are created equal", we're done letting hypocrites own the language of life. Introducing Actually Pro Life: a reframe, a research platform, and a direct challenge to anyone willing to be held accountable to what they claim to believe. This is the foundation that unites everyone you actually gives a sh*t: No life is worth more than another. That foundation comes with eight non-negotiable Principles, six Guardrails, and 160+ measurable Positions because opinions are cheap and receipts matter. Together or nothing. -------------------------- Get more: Take action at www.whatcanido.earth Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade Get our merch https://shop.importantnotimportant.com/ Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant Subscribe to our YouTube channel Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett Produced by Willow Beck Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com Take a nap you deserve it Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

  • May 4 · 9 min

    How You Changed The Lives of 250 Families in Rwanda

    Last Christmas we teamed up with about 40 other big podcasts to support our dear friends at Give Directly with a very special campaign called Pods Fight Poverty. The goal was to raise $1 million to send to families in extreme poverty in Bwakira, Rwanda. Today, I want to share some of those results with you, and some of those stories from the folks you helped. But first, a reminder, some context in Bwakira, most people are farmers, but they don't own large enough plots to grow enough food, and many struggle to eat more than one meal a day. Water supply is inconsistent. People often rely on nearby natural streams to collect water when their wells are dry, and there are very few jobs for young people. Families don't have the capital to start small businesses to create their own jobs. Here's the good news. 500-plus rigorous academic studies show how effective cash can be for local economies, for infant mortality, food security, and more. And that's at least in part because when you give cash directly to people in poverty, it means they can choose how best to improve their own lives. You're also giving them dignity and flexibility. So how did our big campaign go? Well, you and me and the 40 other pods we worked with raised $386,000, reaching 250 families in need. Pretty incredible stuff. I'm extremely grateful to all of you. Families told us they spent the cash on urgently needed livestock, household items, food, housing, land, education, healthcare, and more. Listen for some of their firsthand stories about how much your generosity affected their lives directly. You did this, and you can keep doing this. Consider setting up a new monthly donation at givedirectly.org. Let's go hear from those families. ----------- Have feedback? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com. Find every action recommended in The Most Important Question here: www.whatcanido.earth ----------- INI Book Club: Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club Follow us: Subscribe to our newsletters at importantnotimportant.com Join us at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade Get our merch! Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant Subscribe to our YouTube channel Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett Produced by Willow Beck Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

  • April 27 · 51 min

    A Calm Voice In A Loud World

    Your kids are hearing about the news whether you are ready or they're ready or not. One study said two-thirds of kids aged 8 to 14 are absorbing current events at least every few days, and almost none of it was made for them. They're getting the fear without the context, the headlines without any nuance, and the algorithms without any sort of filter, and in a country arguing over whether to teach history or ban books. The question of who helps kids make sense of the world has never been more necessary and urgent. So what can I do to help the next generation build a healthy, lasting relationship with news and information? Today's guest is Andrea Barbalich. Andrea is the editorial director of The Week Jr., the only weekly news magazine reporting current affairs directly to children, ages 8 to 14. Under Andrea's leadership, it has grown to over 155,000 subscribers. Andrea's got 25 plus years in editorial leadership at places like Child Magazine. She's also the editor of a book called Feeling Safe: Talking to Children About War and Terrorism. We talk about how you explain wars and elections and climate change to an 8-year-old without either terrifying them or talking down to them, why a physical magazine is thriving in a world of 8 second attention spans, and what every parent, grandparent, teacher, coach, and more can do this week to help the kids in their lives become informed, curious, and resilient. ----------- Have feedback? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com. Find every action recommended in The Most Important Question here: www.whatcanido.earth ----------- INI Book Club: The Golden Rock by Theo Varlet Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club Links: Subscribe to The Week Jr Follow us: Subscribe to our newsletters at importantnotimportant.com Join us at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade Get our merch! Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant Subscribe to our YouTube channel Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett Produced by Willow Beck Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

  • April 20 · 45 min

    What's In Your Water

    Whoever said this country can't come together about anything anymore in the year of our Lord twenty twenty-six was wrong because PFAS, or forever chemicals, are in the blood of ninety-seven percent of Americans right now. They're in our water, our cookware, our food packaging, children, pets. The companies that made them knew they were toxic as early as the 1960s, and the federal government is trying to roll back the drinking water protections we've had for them for about a year, but they're not even in effect yet. But here's the thing: people are fighting back. Awareness is growing. Communities that were poisoned are building a national coalition right from their kitchen tables. Scientists are literally breaking apart molecules that were designed to last forever, and states are stepping in where the feds will not. So what can I do about a chemical contamination that's already inside me? My guest today is Rachel Frazin. Rachel is an energy and environmental reporter at The Hill and co-author of Poisoning the Well: How Forever Chemicals Contaminated America, a new book built on years of original on-the-ground reporting in four contaminated communities across Alabama, Colorado, North Carolina, and Maine. We're gonna talk about what PFAS are and how they got into virtually all of us, what the companies and the military knew and when they knew it, where regulation stands right now, and what you can actually do to protect your family and to join the people who are demanding that this gets fixed for us and our kids and for later generations. ----------- Have feedback? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com. Find every action recommended in The Most Important Question here: www.whatcanido.earth ----------- INI Book Club: The Radium Girls by Kate Moore Exposure by Rob Bilott Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club Links: Read Rachel's book Poisoning The Well Follow Rachel's reporting at The Hill Find the Best Reverse Osmosis System for your home Find the best Water Filter Pitchers for PFAS Compare PFAS Water Filter Options Use EWG's tool to find our What's In Your Tap Water Follow us: Subscribe to our newsletters at importantnotimportant.com Join us at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade Get our merch! Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant Subscribe to our YouTube channel Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett Produced by Willow Beck Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

  • April 13 · 44 min

    Life Under A Microscope

    Since the dawn of recorded history, our living earth has been changed by everyone who spends time on it or in it from the smallest bacteria to the largest animals. But like the brain-gut axis inside of us that we still barely understand, we've really never had the ability to see and document and even begin to ask questions about the smallest among us out in the world. In the soil, in the air, in the mud, and, of course, all the different kinds of water on this very, very watery planet. Until recently. Thankfully, there are scientists and documentarians among us who can see and share and spark joy in a simple tablespoon of water. Who can help so many more of us who don't have access to those things, see and understand what's around us every day. And as the world has changed so much faster than ever before, it is vital we support as much of this work as possible. Just when it is most possible. My returning guest today is the great Ariel Waldman. Ariel is a National Geographic Explorer, a documentary filmmaker, an Antarctic researcher, a TED main stage speaker, NASA advisor, YouTube host, producer, and an author. Her solo expeditions in science exploration work have earned her global recognition for bridging adventure, storytelling and cutting edge science. I'm so thankful for making all this for coming back on the show today to share news about her wonderful new six part series, Life Unearthed with Ariel Waldman, premiering in April on PBS. ----------- Have feedback? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com. Find every action recommended in The Most Important Question here: www.whatcanido.earth ----------- INI Book Club: Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club Links: Watch LIFE UNEARTHED with Ariel Waldman on PBS https://www.pbs.org/show/life-unearthed-with-ariel-waldman/ Check out lifeundertheice.org Volunteer for a citizen science project near you https://www.whatcanido.earth/results/?verbs=volunteer&nouns=clean-water,conservation&nounsExclusive=true Donate to The Nature Conservancy https://www.whatcanido.earth/action/the-nature-conservancy/ Find native plants to plant in your yard using Native Plant Finder https://www.whatcanido.earth/action/native-plant-finder/ Follow us: Subscribe to our newsletters at importantnotimportant.com Join us at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade Get our merch! Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant Subscribe to our YouTube channel Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett Produced by Willow Beck Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

  • March 30 · 42 min

    Public Health Just Got Personal

    The CDC issued six health alerts in all of 2025, down from dozens in a normal year (whatever that means anymore). Measles, a disease we basically eliminated 26 years ago, is closing in on 1000 cases, with children hospitalized for brain swelling. And the people now running our top health agencies are the same people who spent years questioning the science those agencies existed to defend. But the good news is people are building new things. States are forming their own health alliances. Scientists are organizing to fight misinformation where it lives. And one epidemiologist in Texas turned a six-week email experiment in March, 2020 into one of the most trusted public health resources on the planet. So what can I do about the collapse of trusted public health communication? Today's guest is Dr. Katelyn Jetelina. Katelyn is an epidemiologist, a mom, a wife, a data scientist, and the founder of the incredibly popular and free Your Local Epidemiologist newsletter. She started it from her kitchen table, and it now reaches something like 310,000 subscribers in 130 plus countries. She's one of the Time 100 most influential people in health, former advisor to the White House and the CDC, and she now leads Project Stethoscope as well. We talk about how Katelyn built YLE, why the old model of top down public health communication was always broken and is now definitely broken, and what Project Stethoscope and Phoenix are actually doing about it. ----------- Have feedback? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com. Find every action recommended in The Most Important Question here: www.whatcanido.earth ----------- INI Book Club: All The Shah's Men by Stephen Kinzer Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club Links: Subscribe to Your Local Epidemiologist https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/ Follow us: Subscribe to our newsletters at importantnotimportant.com Join us at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade Get our merch! Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant Subscribe to our YouTube channel Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett Produced by Willow Beck Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

  • March 23 · 1 hr 12 min

    Not Right Now: Coloring Pages of Karl Marx

    This week, we're dropping an episode from our other show, Not Right Now, in the feed, where Quinn and Claire have community organizer and dad, Garrett Bucks, on the show to chat about parenting, of course, but also how he answered the most important question by building community locally and across the nation, and how you can make it easier for parents (and kids, why not) to engage civically as well. Garrett runs The Barnraisers Project, writes The White Pages newsletter, and is the author of the memoir The Right Kind of White. He also has a son who is very mad that his sister thinks they live in a suburb. The gang gets into why your son talks differently to his sister than to his friends, kids not knowing what the Epstein files are, growing up in rural Montana, how to get work done in between school drop off and soccer practice, and why protests are important AND performative AND boring and worth doing anyway, and how to actually get your kids to come. ----------- Have feedback? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com. Find every action recommended in The Most Important Question here: www.whatcanido.earth ----------- INI Book Club: Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club Links: Get all of our Not Right Now episodes at notrightnow.show Find Garrett's work at garretbucks.com Subscribe to The White Pages at thewhitepages.net Check out The Barnraisers Project at barnraisersproject.org Read Garrett's memoir, The Right Kind of White https://bookshop.org/a/8952/9781982197209 Join The Interdependence Relay at jointherelay.org Follow us: Subscribe to our newsletters at importantnotimportant.com Join us at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade Get our merch! Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant Subscribe to our YouTube channel Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett Produced by Willow Beck Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

  • March 16 · 52 min

    Public Health In A Post-Evidence World

    Just because we're done caring about an outbreak doesn't mean the outbreak is done with us. Over the last year, we have watched something unsettling happen in plain sight. The quiet, active dismantling of the systems built to catch outbreaks early, coordinate a response, and keep hospitals and communities from getting overwhelmed. Websites have been scrubbed, teams have been hollowed out. Early warning signals have gone silent, and at the exact same time, diseases that many of us haven't thought about since childhood, like measles, are being let back into the present, which really leaves a lot of people with the same question, said a little differently than usual. If the safety net is being shredded, what do we do now? My returning guest today is Dr. Nahid Bhadelia. Dr. Bhadelia is the Founding Director of the BU Center on Emerging Infectious Diseases, a board-certified infectious diseases physician, and an associate professor at the Boston University School of Medicine. She served as the senior policy advisor for Global COVID-19 Response on the White House COVID-19 response team in 2022-2023, where she coordinated the US global vaccine donation programs and helped lead Project Next Gen, a $5 billion effort to develop next-generation vaccines and treatments for a pandemic prone coronaviruses. Dr. Bhadelia also served as interim testing coordinator for the White House Impacts Response Team, and she's the founding director and co-founder of BEACON, an open-source outbreak surveillance program. Today, we're gonna try to make sense of what's being dismantled, what threats don't wait for politics to catch up, what's starting to fill the gaps and most importantly, what you can do right now to protect yourself, your family, and to help rebuild the public health infrastructure we all rely on whether we have to think about it or not. ----------- Have feedback? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com. Find every action recommended in The Most Important Question here: www.whatcanido.earth ----------- INI Book Club: Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club Links: Get global health alerts from BEACON https://beaconbio.org/ Check out the impacts of new public and global health policies at Impact Counter https://www.impactcounter.com/ Track health trends in your community with PopHIVE https://www.pophive.org/ Check out the Vaccine Integrity Project https://vaxintegrity.cidrap.umn.edu/ Check out the Governors Public Health Alliance https://govsforhealth.org/ Follow us: Subscribe to our newsletters at importantnotimportant.com Join us at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade Get our merch! Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant Subscribe to our YouTube channel Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett Produced by Willow Beck Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors Mentioned in this episode: Get Readwise Get Reader What Can I Do?

  • March 9 · 1 hr 3 min

    The Plastic Crisis Isn't On You, Actually

    Plastic. It is the miracle material that has quietly become the infrastructure of modern life over the past 63 years and the almost undefeated business model that's continuing climate change and keeping fossil fuel companies alive and reshaping our bodies, our oceans, and our politics. Yeah, plastic keeps food fresh and hospitals running, and cars and planes lighter, and it's also in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the supply chains that keep churning out more of it while they tell us recycling will handle it. Meanwhile, cities and states are actually trying to rein it in, companies are pledging circularity, and regular people are left staring at their blue bin thinking, does this matter? Does any of this work? So what can I do about plastic? My returning guest is Beth Gardiner, a journalist and author of the new book Plastic Inc. Beth pulls back the curtain on how plastic became so pervasive, why the personal responsibility story has been so convenient for yet another industry, and what the real solutions actually look like, because that's why we're here. So stick with us because at the end of this conversation, what can I do? Won't feel like a shrug. It'll feel like a plan. ----------- Have feedback? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com. Find every action recommended in The Most Important Question here: www.whatcanido.earth ----------- INI Book Club: North Woods by Daniel Mason Mark Twain by Ron Chernow Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club Links: Read Beth's book Plastic Inc https://bookshop.org/a/8952/9780593717103 Keep up with more of Beth's work here https://www.bethgardiner.com/ Follow us: Subscribe to our newsletters at importantnotimportant.com Join us at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade Get our merch! Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant Subscribe to our YouTube channel Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett Produced by Willow Beck Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors Mentioned in this episode: Get beehiiv Get Readwise

  • January 19 · 1 hr 19 min

    What's The Purpose of Your Wealth?

    If our mission is to help people, everyone, answer the most important question, what can I do? Then at some point we need to talk to the people who help really wealthy people, help people. So today's question, what can I do about high net worth philanthropy? And look, hey, maybe you're among the vast majority who just heard that and you're like, well, this one doesn't apply to me, but hear me out. We have some of the worst billionaires of all time, but if billionaires are gonna continue to exist, we all need to have a good idea of how we can push them to distribute their resources more effectively and ASAP. And I truly do believe that among high net worth individuals, there are some, especially younger folks that are dying to do exactly that. So whether that is you or definitely not you, or maybe you are adjacent to someone like that, I think there's something for everyone here. My guest today is Sharon Schneider. Sharon is the Founder of Integrated Capital Strategies LLC, a consulting firm that helps founders and family offices create positive social change using an expanded toolbox of resources and strategies that spans the return spectrum from grants to market rate investments. She's also the author of Handbook for An Integrated Life: A Practical Guide for Aligning Your Everyday Choices with Your Internal Compass, a number one new release on Amazon that helps individuals live into their values the same way her consulting helps business owners and family offices. Sharon previously served as the Executive Director of the Telluray Foundation, the Founding Director of the Walton Personal Philanthropy Group, and the co-founder and CEO of Moxi Jean, a for-profit social enterprise that was acquired by Schoola in 2015. Sharon was named a Colorado Governor's Fellow in 2022 and in 2024 was named an Aspen Institute Finance Leader Fellow, and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. Again, I really do think there's something for everyone here. This is a really important conversation in a time of growing inequality. We gotta help more people. ----------- Have feedback? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com. Find every action recommended in The Most Important Question here: www.whatcanido.earth ----------- INI Book Club: Handbook For An Integrated Life by Sharon Schneider The Purpose of Capital by Jed Emerson Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club Links: Get in touch with Sharon at incapstrategies.com Follow Sharon on LinkedIn Modeling tool to plan your financial future https://projectionlab.com/ Read about how DAFs are actually being used here and here Follow us: Subscribe to our newsletters at importantnotimportant.com Join us at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade Get our merch! Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant Subscribe to our YouTube channel Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett Produced by Willow Beck Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors Mentioned in this episode: What Can I Do? Get Readwise Get Reader